Guide To Flash Videos: Downloading and Converting Flash is Easy

The overwhelming popularity and use of Flash (FLV) video online for several years has created an entire cottage industry of software products devoted just to downloading Flash videos. Some of the Flash download products even refer to themselves as a “YouTube Downloader” because of the vast amount of Flash videos available on YouTube. In this post, we discuss how to download Flash video and save it on your computer. However, Flash videos aren’t as prevalent as they have been in the past. In fact, many browsers including Google Chrome are beginning to limit support for Flash video. That said, many content-protected videos use Flash.

In this post, we discuss what’s happening with browser support for the format and how to download Flash video and save it on your computer if you do come across one. We will also cover what you can do with the video you download — such as converting Flash to other file format — and how to download a Flash player such as RealPlayer to watch those videos. It’s easy to use, fast, and free.

DOWNLOAD FLASH VIDEOS

You can’t simply click on a Flash video and expect to download it through your browser. That’s why there are so many specialized Flash download products online.

That said, the free RealPlayer provides one-click capability to download Flash videos. It also answers the question of how to save downloaded Flash videos and then organize them in the RealPlayer library. If you don’t already have RealPlayer, you can download the free version by clicking the orange button in the top right corner of the page. In addition to using it as a way to download Flash video you can also use it as Flash video converter.

First, we have to find a Flash video to download. Since I like math, I went to the Khan Academy to see what videos were available.

Scrolling all the way to the bottom of the list of topics, I found ”Vi Hart –Recreational mathematics and inspirational videos by resident mathemusician Vi Hart.” I started with Doodling in Math Class: Binary Trees and Visual Multiplication. The videos are fascinating and open a new way of thinking about math. They’re short, great fun and you learn something new, even if you’re not into math.

Here’s what you need to do to download Flash video using RealPlayer:

Select a video to download. This example will use a Flash video on the Khan Academy website.

Play it.

Hover the cursor within the frame.

The RealPlayer “Download This Video” box appears in the upper right corner of the video frame.

Click on it.

RealPlayer Downloader opens and shows the progress of the download.

The Flash video is automatically saved to the RealPlayer Library.

Convert Videos In A Flash

Flash videos are all over the Internet. Use RealPlayer to download Flash videos and convert them to virtually any file format you need.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD FLASH VIDEOS USING FIREFOX, CHROME, AND EDGE

You can also use RealPlayer for the PC to download Flash videos in the Firefox browser. Flash is also notorious for requiring a ton of updates. You might find a Flash video on the Internet that you can’t play; instead you’ll see a pop-up window requesting you download an update. This is easy to avoid on Firefox when you install the Flash plug-in for Firefox.

However, be aware that Firefox is limiting the amount of Flash content it’s making available to users. Firefox has already started to create a list of Flash content that can be replaced with HTML since Flash tends to create crashes and affect battery life. If you do happen to come across non-protected Flash video on a Firefox browser, you can download it using RealPlayer. The familiar blue arrow dropdown tab will appear at the top of the Firefox browser alerting you that you can download the FLV video playing in the browser. Here’s how it works:

Visit a site with Flash Videos. We went to DailyMotion to view funny pet videos.

Play the video and watch for the blue arrow dropdown arrow that will appear at the top center of the browser window.

Click the blue tab and you’ll have the option to download the Flash video. Click the Download this Video button and RealPlayer will save the video to your RealPlayer library.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD FLASH VIDEOS USING INTERNET EXPLORER

RealPlayer also works with Internet Explorer (IE) and you can use the plug-in to download videos directly from the browser window.

Open the IE browser and find a Flash video you want to download. For this example, we picked a video on Metacafe. Click play on the video and you’ll see the Download this Video button appear in the top left corner of the video screen.

Click the Download this Video button and the Flash video will automatically start downloading to your RealPlayer library. You’ll see the progress on the screen as it’s downloaded.

HOW TO CONVERT THE DOWNLOADED FLASH VIDEO TO MP4

After, downloading Flash videos from the Khan Academy website and played them on the computer. Why bother converting to MP4 or another other video format? More and more, the answer is mobility.

Who wants to be tied to a desktop or even to lugging around a laptop computer. People want to really be portable and play that downloaded Flash video on a mobile device such as an iPhone while at the coffee shop or waiting for a flight to board. Only problem is that iPhone doesn’t support Flash video. Apple doesn’t permit Flash to run on its operating system for technical reasons.The Flash video needs to be converted to another format, namely MP4.

You’re not just downloading a Flash player when you get the free version of RealPlayer. It also has several other features including a Flash video converter. You can “Convert” the video through the RealPlayer Converter itself.

One example, is to select a video in the RealPlayer library and click on More from the bottom menu and choose convert. Then you can select the format that you want to convert the downloaded Flash video to.

You can also select a video and left-click on your mouse, select Edit and then Convert to bring up the same menu.

The converted MP4 file is also conveniently saved in the RealPlayer Library so you can easily transfer it again to other devices or share.

CONVERTING DOWNLOADED FLASH VIDEOS TO WMV

We can ask the same question here, about why bother converting the downloaded Flash video to Windows Media Video (WMV)? WMV is a popular and powerful format. It can handle highly compressed video, making it good for high definition. Your library may contain several videos in WMV. It’s a good storage format, and converting the Flash video into that format makes it compatible with the rest of your video collection.

The conversion process with RealPlayer is the same as converting Flash to MP4 shown above. Xbox 360 and several types of cell phones also accept WMV, but will not play Flash videos. So, it’s a similar situation to the iPhone requiring MP4. Another reason is to convert the downloaded Flash video to WMV is to edit it. There is special video editing software for FLV, but many other editors don’t accept Flash.

To edit the video you want to integrate the FLV video into some of the WMV clips, and add subtitles or special effects. WMV isn’t necessarily the best format to edit with due to its compression, but many people do. Converting Flash to WMV enables programs like Windows Media Maker and other editing software to import and edit WMV, AVI, MPG and other formats into the same video.

IT’S EASY TO SAVE FLASH VIDEO AND CONVERT IT

That pretty much sums it up. RealPlayer offers a one-click solution for downloading Flash videos from numerous websites. Converting them to MP4 or WMV for use in other devices is equally simple and fast. We hope you enjoy the Flash videos you download, but just remember that some of the material online may be copyrighted. There are laws in the United States and countries around the globe about distributing copyrighted material. Many videos on sites such as YouTube and DailyMotion have Creative Commons license applied so be sure to read those to understand what can be done with the videos you download.

Please let me know if you have any questions on how to save and download Flash videos by leaving a comment below. As always, I look forward to your questions.

When I play Realplayer, the setting of the monitor changes so that can not see the file (video)
It asks me to set at 1200 x 800 or higher, the funy thing is that the monitor is already set up at this or better.
Am I doing something wrong?

It’s one month now, that I can download movies from (…) and I don’t know why!
I have already download 40 movies and now when I go in one movie I dοn’t see anywhere the little bar that says: “Download this video” and I DONT KNOW WHY 🙁 PLEASE HELP ME WITH ANSWERS!!!

I have already uninstall and again install the realplayer but nothing! please tell me what can I do?!
Maybe is something wrong because I have download the Picasa 3? I think no… ! But help me please

By Tom Volotta Posted on August 5, 2012

The website you mentioned doesn’t exist. I know there have been some glitches with “Download This Video” on some video websites. RealPlayer Tech Support is working on it.

Can you please clarify what website are you trying to download from?

…TV

By Tom Volotta Posted on August 5, 2012

I have seen some references on the web about possible conflicts with RealPlayer and Picasa, but I don’t have any first-hand information on that. Your best source on this, and on your previous question about the “Download This Video” button really is RealPlayer Support.

The website with the movies is (…)
But now I can’t download from the TubePlus or Youtube, I can’t from anywhere to download any video.
I will uninstall the Picasa 3 but I don’t know. So if you will know something new please tell me!

By Tom Volotta Posted on August 8, 2012

Melina,

OK, now that you’ve clarified what the website is, I’ve got a better handle on what “might” be causing your problems. At least part of them. My guess is it’s the website itself, and the content it is offering.

I just visited TubePlus, and it has some great feature films for play and download. AVATAR, BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT, PULP FICTION, LORD OF THE RINGS (the complete trilogy), STAR WARS – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and on and on. Terrific stuff. And all FREE.

My personal opinion is all these movies are ripped-off. Literally and legally. Clicking any of the titles takes you to a download page where the name of each movie is preceded by the blatant heading, [DvDrip]. Guess what? All this stuff has quite literally been “ripped” (circumventing the DRM and copy protection) from a DVD or Blu-ray of the movie.

AVATAR for FREE download! Please…

I’m thinking in an attempt to download from this site, your computer was infected with something nasty. It’s now done some kind of damage to RealPlayer (and maybe other applications), inhibiting the “Download This Video” capability for YouTube, and probably anyplace else.

You can try running a virus scan and clean-up program to root out the problem. If that doesn’t work or is out of your comfort zone, consider taking your machine either to a trusted friend who really knows computers, or to a professional shop.

Look now I can download only from YouTube. But i feel very bad that i cant download from TubePlus anymore…. Do you know any site to running a viruns scan and clean-up program to root out the problem???

By Tom Volotta Posted on August 11, 2012

I don’t have a specific anti-virus product to recommend. I’ve used more than a half dozen different ones over the years, and have found the top brands all do a good job. Each has tiered product lines, offering a range of different features, with corresponding pricing, depending on the alerts, scanning of your files on local and network drives, email spam and phishing protection, virus removal, firewall cability, update policy, length or service you’re purchasing and so on. You also need to consider the interface and ease of use factor that’s comfortable for you.

There are many virus scan software reviews you can read online. Stay with the top brands. You can download free trial versions to try out. Only download directly from the manufacturer’s official website. You’ll probably need to UNinstall any previously installed third-party (not Windows built-in, just turn that off) virus software as you’re evaluating each so there aren’t any conflicts. Don’t make this too complicated for yourself. Any of the major brands will work. Double-check the anti-virus software’s system requirements, so there aren’t any compatibility issues with your operating system and hardware.

Look, thanks for your answers but becaue the problem it’s not very easy, i will go to one magazine for pc to tell me what can i do or to fix it. But thank you for all 🙂

By Tom Volotta Posted on August 17, 2012

Melina,

You’ve certainly had more than your share of problems! Maybe you can find the solution in a PC magazine. Also try searching the web with several variations of the words that relate to this issue. I’m not sure how far you got into rooting out any potential virus trouble. At this point, you might still consider a previous suggestion to have a reliable professional take a look at what’s going on with your machine. Who knows – it might be something really simple to fix. Then again…

Good luck. Please let us know if you get this solved.

…TV

By Tom Volotta Posted on August 22, 2012

You’re NOT seeing the “Download This Video” button appear in the upper right corner of the video frame? RealPlayer is designed so videos that are prohibited from being downloaded will not active that feature. There’s nothing about a Flash video itself that should get in your way though. It is possible the video has some form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) blocking downloads. Is it possible you’re on a streaming video site that’s only meant for viewing while online, and downloading being restricted? Is this only happening on a specific website, or are you having the problem everywhere? Are other video file formats, e.g., MP4, acting the same way?

Let us know.

…TV

By Tony Posted on August 29, 2012

Hi there,
I have RealPlayer Plus, and my problem is when I have downloaded an FLV video clip and go through the “convert to WMV” facility.
About 60% of the conversions work ok in Windows Media Player, but around 40% although converted and will play, are unwatchable. The playback is very jerky and stiff all the way through the recording.
I have uninstalled RealPlayer plus and re-installed it but it doesn’t make any difference.
This is very disappointing having paid for a programme only to find that it doesn’t do what it should!
Any ideas?

Tony.

By Tom Volotta Posted on August 29, 2012

Well, this is an interesting one. Your problem is file format conversions from FLV to WMV you’re doing with RealPlayer Plus are not playing consistently in Windows Media Player. The first question I’d ask is if all the WMV files play correctly in RP+? You didn’t mention if you had tested that. It is important to know the answer to that in order to troubleshoot.

The presumption that the problem with Windows Media Player not playing 40% of the FLV files converted to WMV with RealPlayer Plus, is due to RP+ is not one I would necessarily make.

Could the problem be with Windows Media Player? Since the trouble is intermittent, and another company’s media player is in the mix, it’s premature to pin it on RP+. I’d first check if the converted files play properly in RP+. If they do, RealPlayer Plus is not the problem. Windows Media Player is. The other thing you should look into are the specific settings you’re converting from and to. Are the codecs all the same in the FLV videos? FLV supports Spark, VP6 and H.264 codecs. Maybe something in the converter setting details for a codec is conflicting with what Windows Media Player wants to see in the WMV format. What codec are you using in WMV on the receiving end? Have done the UNinstall/Install with Windows Media Player?

Sorry for the convoluted answer. You’ve got too many unanswered variables up in the air to give you a quick fix. Try narrowing it down, and get back to me and we’ll see where we go from there.

I am trying to convert .flv downloaded through real player download the video link to .mp4 format. However, everytime I try to convert it, the superpass screen appears and i am unable to move forward after it. How can I bypass it? Even after registering for superpass trial period I could not figure out a way to convert the videos.

By Tom Volotta Posted on September 5, 2012

RealPlayer plays MP4, but will not convert to or from MP4 files. RealPlayer Plus is required. You can workaround this on the free RealPlayer by downloading and installing QuickTime for Windows. The CCCP codec pack will also work.

I’ve found the upgrade path to download RP+ through the SuperPass Trial offer in order to get RealPlayer Plus software somewhat convoluted. Unless you really want the SuperPass service, go the QT for Windows or CCCP installs route.

…TV

By rich Posted on September 22, 2012

everytime I try to convert flash video to WMV my realplayer converter freezes. Do you have any ideas on this problem?

By Tom Volotta Posted on September 23, 2012

There shouldn’t be a problem. pretty routine conversion. I’m taking a guess here… Could it be that the FLV file is using the H.264 codec, causing RealPlayer Converter to choke? Flash can contain Spark, VP6 and most recently, H.264. RP can indeed PLAY H.264 in an MP4 container, but only RP+ can do conversions.

Download and install QuickTime for Windows. Maybe that’ll solve it, but I’m just taking a shot in the dark here.

Thanks for the post. I was looking for an efficient way to do this conversion and also download the videos. It helped a lot. thank you

By Tom Volotta Posted on September 26, 2012

Good. Nice to know the software is working as it should.

…TV

By Leif Posted on September 27, 2012

I have a 24 inch 2008 IMAC with the latest Mountain Lion software on it. On my RealPlayer Downloader, I have no trouble downloading 240p, 480p, 720p or 1080p video formats, but it won’t download 360p. I have Flip4Mac. Is there a quick fix for this problem?

By Tom Volotta Posted on September 28, 2012

I have no specific idea. Perhaps because 360p is an oddball size, and not the usual line configurations of 240, 480, 720 and 1080. Have you installed the latest Flip4Mac and Silverlight package?

Thanks for the post. It was a big help. Congratulations on the site. It’s great to find sites that have quality content and that helps us. Congratulations

By Tom Volotta Posted on October 1, 2012

And thank you for the compliment. It is good to know what we’re publishing on the site is useful for people. Come back again. Plenty of new topics be posted all the time.

…TV

By srik Posted on October 3, 2012

hi,

i have downloaded a few movies from youtube using the real player download plugin.
the downloaded movies have .flv extension. i can fastforward the movies when i play it on my laptop using a VLC player. but on my toshiba 40TL838g i cannot fasforward these videos. (the videos other are playing fine on the tv). is there any possiblity that i could fasfforward these videos on my toshiba television aswell without having to install any software on my television. (like the converting the video format or something like that)

thanks a lot for your help

srik

By Tom Volotta Posted on October 3, 2012

Weird problem, but I don’t have any brilliant ideas. In order to FF, SloMo or otherwise control playback and video, that’s a function of the Player, NOT the video display device. The new “Smart TVs” may well change all that by incorporating a player in the display, but I don’t think the Toshiba 40TL838g is quite up to that. Could be wrong. Looks like it’s a European model, so I haven’t been able to get some of those specs.

Seems odd to me that you can FF on your laptop, but not when it’s connected to the TV. Hard to believe the TV would restrict playback functions from your laptop, or any other player. Could be some kind of frame r
limitations, but that doesn’t make sense either since you can manipulate all kinds of playback options through DVD, Blu-ray and even on external video servers. Displayers are typically just dumb devices that are controlled by external players. Smart TVs will be different, but again, I don’t know if the TL838g is in that league.

I’d definitely contact Toshiba. Could be some conflict with VLC, or the laptop, but I doubt it. The video file format and/or codec shouldn’t be the problem.

This is what’s known as the person answering the question not knowing the answer! 😉 Please let us know if Toshiba has a solution.

…TV

By Willy Posted on October 24, 2012

I have the same problem as Melina Jett. I could down load flv file from Realplyer before but not now.
The interesting point is, the pc that is running XP will not down load while my Lap top that running Vista still can down load as fast as before. Visiting the same site, watching the same video with Realplayer, one pop up “Down load this video” the other one no longer showing that again. I believe this has to do with some sort of setting but not relate to the web site.

By Tom Volotta Posted on October 24, 2012

Oh, this is a good one. Make sure XP is running the latest SP. I don’t know much about Vista, other than there were many quirks about it. I run 7 Pro. Why Vista works OK, but XP doesn’t is as mysterious to me as you.

As for any similarities with Melina Jett’s problems, the primary origins of that was she was trying to download “FREE” Hollywood movies, from what I would characterize at best as a questionable website. Anyone who thinks they can download legitimate versions of AVATAR for free is both living in a fantasy and exposing their computer to malicious code.

Sorry not being more helpful. Just avoid these bogus sites claiming free Hollywood movies.

…TV

By Richard Caulfield Posted on November 20, 2012

And I never download them, I just stream them from putlocker or another site just as I would stream any youtube video off of youtube.

By Tom Volotta Posted on November 20, 2012

Sure, streaming is fine — if you don’t want to download and save the video for viewing without being connected to the Internet. Also, content offerings change, so what you stream from a site today may not be there tomorrow. The article also dealt with format conversion and transfers to a mobile or other devices. Pure streaming doesn’t allow that.

…TV

By Richard Caulfield Posted on November 20, 2012

Usually if you watch a video, you watch it in one day, on one occasion. Sometimes you pause it but you never really need to close it. So you usually don’t need to have a downloaded copy lying around. Regardless, software like Real can convert the videos from sites like putlocker and then you can save them, and anyway you really can’t reliably download and save them for free anywhere else. Sites like filenuke also have download links that work well. So once you download it or put it through Real, you can transfer it to any modern mobile device.
So, the sites are good as regardless of whether you want to download or stream (my preference), you have free anytime access to a full film or a full tv show. And, yeah, sometimes content offerings do change, but luckily if the programme is popular enough, you’ll be able to find seven or eight hosting sites providing that media, and so one or two sites failing (happens at most once a year) doesn’t harm whatsoever.

By Tom Volotta Posted on November 20, 2012

Agreed. All valid points.

I think downloading works for those who want to build a video library for use on their local media system, without needing Internet access. Also, as we’ve both mentioned, format conversion and transferring to various mobile and set top devices is another reason for downloading. RealPlayer offers those extra capabilities that expand what users can do with digital media.

Thanks for getting back, Richard.

…TV

By Robert Brain Posted on November 23, 2012

I have a problem with Real Player. When I download a video clip from Youtube no matter which one it always comes into RP in MP4 format although the actual format is FLV. I have 2 Laptops and on one it works correctly ie in FLV but on the other one in MP4. I can watch the clip from the RP Library but when I try to burn it to a dvd a window opens saying Cannot be burned reason= no video content.. Is this a matter of how the Laptop is Configured?? Would if possible appreciate an answer/solution.
Thanks R.B.

By Tom Volotta Posted on November 26, 2012

Robert,

First, you must be using RealPlayer Plus. The free RealPlayer will not burn DVDs.

As for the FLV/MP4 thing, my guess is there’s something going on with one of your two laptops. If laptop 1 is downloading and playing FLV fine, and laptop 2 is downloading the same FLV, but playing as MP4, I’d point the finger at laptop 2. Are you sure both machines are configured in identical ways as far as OS, RP versions, installed codecs (some can conflict with each other), hardware, CPU, Optical Drive and so on?

I’m tempted to say something is going on with the H.264 codec. FLV has incorporated it for awhile now, and MP4 was built for it. Maybe the FLV file you’re downloading is using H.264, but for what reason I don’t know, RealPlayer is selecting the MP4 file format to play the content. That is wild speculation.

RealPlayer Downloader does NOT do any automatic or selectable conversions on the fly. There are downloader products that do have a limited ability to do just that though.

On the DVD burning problem – you didn’t say exactly whether if it was laptop 1 or 2 (or both) that is not working. If it’s #2 (the one playing MP4 instead of FLV), then I’d say there’s something going on with THAT machine, causing both problems. If it’s #1 or both, then I’m even more stumped. It’s also not clear in your comment whether this “Cannot be burned – no video content” is occurring with FLV, MP4 or both.

I’d use the best functioning laptop as a benchmark, and see how it matches up against the one not doing so great, in terms of the configuration specs mentioned above. Do the standard testing and troubleshooting for the bad one to see if you catch something there. If none of that solves things, contact RealPlayer Support.

Please let me know how this turns out. You have a couple of interesting problems.

…TV

By Yan Roberts Posted on November 27, 2012

I am recording mp3 with Real Player as flv. Then I want to convert it back into mp3. Real player will not play flv, which he created. Neither there is any way I can convert it into mp3 with Real Player during recording or after. I had to use external software to do that. Isn’t there easier way to do that using Real Player?

By Chuck Posted on November 28, 2012

real player is useless for FLV if you only want one fioe in a series… screws up by adding same file over and over and over.. and no way to stop that junk system to me its as usual trash form someoen who wnats to keep their format over another and that is what real player is doin

By Tom Volotta Posted on November 28, 2012

Yan,

I’m a bit lost here. If your objective is to end up with MP3, why are you recording MP3 as FLV, and then trying to convert FLV back to MP3? What is the point of complicating things? I don’t know why the FLV file does not play properly in RealPlayer. My only guess would be something is getting out of sorts in the process of recording an MP3 file as FLV, which prevents RP from recognizing it.

I don’t want to shuffle you off to someone else, but in this case, you should contact RealPlayer Support to help resolve this problem. Sorry I couldn’t give you a straight answer.

…TV

By Tom Volotta Posted on November 29, 2012

Chuck,

I don’t know what you mean in saying RealPlayer adds the “… same (FLV) file over and over and over…” Also, I’m not getting the comment about not being able to play one file in a series. As for RealPlayer forcing people to use RP proprietary formats, that simply isn’t correct. RealPlayer can both play and convert a variety of popular video and audio file formats. Additionally, several free, third-party codec packs can be installed on your system to further extend RealPlayer’s capabilities in working with other formats.

Give me more details about the “one file in a series” and “over and over” issues, and I’ll try to help sort it out for you.

…TV

By wiki Posted on December 17, 2012

I can only download videos I don’t know how to convert. Details: I only have the free one, when I download there’s no convert file option like the old one version…

By Tom Volotta Posted on December 18, 2012

wiki,

I’m guessing you are talking about RealPlayer 15 when you say “…the old version…”, and with that, presuming you’re using the new, free version of RealPlayer 16, but not seeing any Conversion options. Right?

If so, conversions can indeed be done with RealDownloader, which is part of RealPlayer version 16.

I think the problem may be that you are not waiting for the download to be completed. Once it is, just move the cursor into the area where the video is listed in RealDownloader. A light blue highlight for that title appears, along with a scissors icon for the Trimmer, Convert To MP3 (audio only), a down-triangle button that gives you choices to select the last device converted to, Select Another Device, iTunes and Connect Your Device. There is even the option to upload to Facebook and other social media sites or to send in an email. It’s all there. When you’ve made your selection, the conversion then takes place within RealDownloader itself. A progress bar and notation about what device or format you are converting to is displayed. The regular RealPlayer Converter does not open.

The original downloaded video is automatically sent to the RealPlayer Library. There, you have several options to choose videos and send them to the RealPlayer Converter. Click on the thumbnail image of the video, then click on “Convert to…” from the vertical menu bar on the far left. You can also do a right-click on the thumbnail, and pick “Convert to…” from the drop-down menu. A third method is to hover the cursor over the thumbnail image. A pop-up menu appears with the options; Play, Share, Copy to and More. Click “More” and a drop-down menu, with “Convert…” appears. Clicking Convert here, and in all of these other examples will open the RealPlayer Converter and move the selected video into its list. There, you can pick the device or format, along with detailed specifications for resolution, bit rate or change of format. Multiple videos can be processed as a batch.

Just play around with the suggested steps above. You’ll get it in no time. Let me know if you still get hung-up.

…TV

By ron duncan Posted on January 19, 2013

i have realplayer plus 16 and i have problems downloading videos sometimes. i click on ,” download the video” and everything looks and works fine , although , i do have to restart alot of videos to get the full video to download and sometimes even doing that doesn’t work. the end result is only a portion of the video/s get downloaded and i get a message stating , ” unable to download video”. under one or many videos i’m trying to download.
any suggestions , ideas, garbage can to which i can deposit this pc? thanks in advance….ron

By Tom Volotta Posted on January 19, 2013

Ron,

There have been a rash of Downloading problems recently, some connected with the Chrome browser. If you’re using it, switch to Firefox for the time being. As for the sporadic, restarts or partial downloading, I don’t have a solid answer for you.

The “Download This Video” pop-up button is only supposed to appear when a legit (no copy protection, DRM, etc.) is available. Streaming videos typically cannot be downloaded, but that wouldn’t explain you getting the “Download” prompt, then having it fail.

I don’t like to shuffle people off to Support, but I just don’t have a fix for you. Since you are a PLUS customer, you’ll get priority support. Be sure to explain details such as browser, site(s) you’re having trouble with, and any other specifics which will help them help you.

As for a garbage can for your PC – don’t give up hope. The problem isn’t likely with the computer. If you must resort to trashing it, be sure to take it to an authorized electronics recycling center !!!

There are some videos on utube that when I go to download them it downloads them into mp4 format and I can’t watch or even here it. How can I fix this?

By RealPlayer Team Posted on May 24, 2013

Hi Steven,

Sorry for the inconvenience, this is due to changes made at YouTube and we are working with YouTube to resolve the issue.

By rea Posted on May 26, 2013

everytime i try to download a music video its not working it say mp4 all the other videos i have say flv and they play fine the ones that say mp4 dont play the music video doesnt play its just a black screen

By RealPlayer Team Posted on May 27, 2013

Hi Rea,

Sorry for the inconvenience, this is due to changes made at YouTube and we are working with YouTube to resolve the issue.

By Johnny Posted on May 28, 2013

For some reason my free version of realplayer will not play the the flv files it downloaded from you tube. An X appears on the music file that I converted as audio only and sent to i tunes. Upon oppening itunes the message appears “can not locate the file”. The files will not play in real player either. Help>>>>>>

By RealPlayer Posted on May 28, 2013

Please send an email to help@real.com with a brief description of the issue and we can assist you further.

After I initially commented I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added I receive four emails with the exact same comment. There has to be a way you can remove me from that service? Thanks a lot!

By RealPlayer Team Posted on August 9, 2013

Please send an email to help@real.com, include a brief description of the issue, copy and paste the link to this thread within the email for further assistance. Also send us the screenshots of the emails you received from us.

By Mike Posted on September 2, 2013

When I download a video on real player it now downloads in MP4 format and I can’t watch it. It use to download in Flash Video and I could just play it. Can anyone tell me how to download in Flash Video and or convert the downloaded MP4 video into Flash Video. I have tried everything possible on Real Players site to no avail. Thanks in advance. You are welcome to E-mail me at GageMorris@yahoo.com.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on September 3, 2013

This issue has been fixed in the latest build of RealPlayer 16, released on August 21.

If you are currently using RealPlayer Plus 16 or the free version: Please open RealPlayer, click the RealPlayer logo in the upper left, and select Check for Update. You will then be able to update your RealPlayer to the newest build.

Please note that you may need to re-enable the RealDownloader extension in your web browser as well by following this link:

After updating RealPlayer, please re-download the videos and play it using RealPlayer. If the issue still persists, Please send an email to help@real.com, include a brief description of the issue, copy and paste the link to this thread within the email for further assistance.

By Andy Posted on September 4, 2013

Previous i can see the “Download This Video”… but now no more…
I Don’t know why… has uninstalled and re-installed again but same problem happen..

When I try to convert to RealVideo, it converts to RealAudio. What should I do?

By RealPlayer Team Posted on November 28, 2013

Sorry you are unable to convert videos! Please provide us some more information,

>What is the format of the downloaded video?
>Are you able to play this file in RealPlayer?
>Does this happen with all the videos?
>Are you using the latest version of RealPlayer?

To find RealPlayer version,

Open RealPlayer > Click on RealPlayer Menu (at the top left corner) > Help > About RealPlayer.

If you have additional questions, please send an email to help@real.com, include a brief description of the issue, copy and paste the link to this thread within the email for further assistance.

By Bill Murray Posted on December 28, 2013

Just “upgraded” to RealPlayer Cloud and now when I use the Downloader it automatically converts the Flash download to mp4. I do not want this and I can not figure out how to keep it from doing this.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on December 28, 2013

How frustrating! Some sites have introduced a new streaming standard. The latest build of RealDownloader is designed to automatically convert videos to playable .MP4 format at the end of the download. Hence, while downloading videos, you need to wait until the thumbnail of video gets loaded. After thumbnail gets loaded, video will be saved in .MP4 format. If you close RealDownloader window before it converts the video, it will get saved in .DASH format(unplayable format).

If you have additional questions, please send an email to help@real.com.

By Henry Knock Posted on April 11, 2014

When I follow the instructions for downloading a video to Real, no spot appears to the upper right of the video. What do I do now? Thanks.

The video of the myTV all plays in Flash. So I enabled Flash and RealPlayer so RealPlayer can flag the video for me to download. However, since these myTV contents all has TV commercials before each main video content, I could only download the commercials and never the main video content !

Is there no way to work around this with Realplayer video download?

Thanks
Barry

By Brinton Felixraja Posted on May 25, 2014

Sorry for the trouble.

To download the actual video, please click the Download This Video button when the actual video starts playing. Make sure not to click the button when the commercial is played. You can also try with RealPlayer browser. Here’s how:

1. Open RealPlayer.
2. Click on RealPlayer Logo.
3. Go to File.
4. Then select New and then New Web Browser.
5. Type the URL of the website ( like http://www.youtube.com ) and select any video.
6. If ‘Download This Video’ button is not enabled, make a right click and then select ‘Download This video’ option.

If that does not resolve the issue, please send an email to help@real.com

Thanks for the prompt feedback Brinton and the kind help. Unfortunately, I did try both previously before I explained the problem, clicking the button when the actual video starts playing instead of/in addition to the commercial playing, as well as opening Realplayer accessing the URL (e.g. try this — or any MyTB videos — http://mytv.tvb.com/lifestyle/donpolecsworldexploringquirky/178625), as well as doing both, meaning opening the RealPlayer accessing the video through the Realplayer browser access, as well as then clicking when the actual video was playing.

To be sure, I tried these again after your writeup above to make sure I didn’t do anything matching what you suggested.

Unfortunately, it still doesn’t help.

I know I can try help@real.com or Realplayer Support, etc., but before I try, I’d like to see if anyone here on this thread has experienced the same problem and had a solution, or has encounted the same problem and can’t resolve it, I am deeply interested in knowing the technical reason and solution.

It’d be great. I’ll see if anyone can help solve this before I go to real for help and support.

Thanks
Barry

By Brinton Felixraja Posted on May 26, 2014

I’m sorry it didn’t work.

I tried from my end and I’m unable to download the videos from the URL which you have provided. It seems that you’re trying to download the copy protected contents. This might be the reason why the actual video is not getting downloaded.

In this case, I recommend you to download videos from YouTube and try again. If you’re able to download and watch the videos, then it is best to find out whether that particular website is download protected.

Thanks, Brinton. I am not aware that there are “copy-protected contents” that Real can’t resolve. Of course it makes sense that there must be contents that are to be protected for various valid reasons, but technically there should be ways to resolve these by anyone out there or by Real. Of course, where contents need to be protected, I/we should be careful to tread into the territory of “illegal access or illegal copying”, but as these are to be viewed by the public and are repeats of TV shows which audiences can easily record them through ordinary DVD recorder, etc., I would think that these “copy-protection contents are not really meant to be protected, but just that I/we’ve missed some technical steps to copy them. I am curious if someone from Real has any suggestions. Knowing these might give us some known technical steps to be able to copy these contents which can be easily recorded through TV for the same contents.

Thanks again anyway. I’ll wait to see if any other responses for suggestions or solutions to resolve contents like these, or that I’d need to go to Real help.

By Brinton Felixraja Posted on June 1, 2014

As mentioned in the previous post, we cannot speak on behalf of the copyright holder nor can we dispense legal advice.

Copy-protected content need DRM to play that particular file. Digital Rights Management Systems (“DRM’s”) are designed to manage and enforce intellectual property rights in digital content. RealPlayer Cloud and previous version respects DRM’s and does not enable you to copy DVD’s and download from the Internet content that is protected by DRM. You may not take any action or use the Software to circumvent or defeat the security or content usage rules (including copy prevention) provided or enforced by DRM.

Note: RealPlayer Cloud and previous versions of RealPlayer does not have an option to rip DVD’s.

Can anyone tell me how to download in Flash Video and or convert the downloaded MP4 video into Flash Video.

By Brinton Felixraja Posted on September 14, 2014

Some sites have introduced a new streaming standard and that is the reason why the recent downloads are .mp4 file formats. In order to assist you further, please let us know the reason you wish to convert to .flv file format.

If you have RealPlayer Cloud installed then you do not need to convert the videos; just upload to the Cloud space. Uploaded files are also transcoded in multiple progressive download profiles. These profiles are optimized for download-to-device scenarios where the user chooses to download videos to the PC or smartphone/tablet devices for offline access.

SurePlay is a brand new revolutionary technology from RealNetworks that enables seamless auto-formatting of videos to fit the device type, size of screen, available bandwidth and storage space available on device.

If you have any additional questions, please send an email to help@real.com